CHICAGO, IL [MW Communications] – At its meeting on 1 December, 2009, the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of the Midwest, with the blessing of the late Archbishop Job, in anticipation of the Archbishop’s expected retirement in 2011, created an Episcopal Search Committee, to develop criteria and a timetable for the nomination of a new diocesan bishop. The committee, now operating with the blessing of the locum tenens Metropolitan Jonah, includes 4 clergy and 3 lay members of the Diocesan Council : Frs. John Zdinak (chancellor), Steven Hrycyniak, Mark Hodges, and Christopher Wojcik; Sam D’Fantis, Mark Stokoe, and Mike Dorosh, who serves as chairman.

With the untimely passing of our beloved Archbishop in late December, the Search Committee's work was given sudden urgency. Through email and bi-weekly conference calls, the committee has:

a) outlined an open process that would allow a nomination of a candidate (s) in a timely fashion, for election by the Holy Synod;

b) developed a list of requirements based on the OCA Statutes, as well as a list of desired qualities (given the culture, demographics, pastoral realities and vision of the Diocese of the Midwest), all candidates nominated should possess; and

c) will recommend to the Diocesan Council that the election take place at the previously scheduled Diocesan Assembly to be held in Minneapolis in October of this year.

All decisions of the Committee are subject to approval by the Diocesan Council, as well as the blessing of our locum tenens, Metropolitan Jonah.

In order to preserve the integrity and dignity of the process, the privacy of any potential candidates, and the work of the Diocese itself, the Search Committee has agreed to be bound by a confidentiality agreement in all its work. Regular press releases are anticipated, however, so that the Diocese may be kept informed of progress, and to ensure transparency for the process itself.